The Betrayal
by Sanchari Das
Summary: Rishaan finds himself getting attracted to his wife Kiara's cousin Diya and couldn't resist himself and ends up committing a blunder in Goa.


_**The Betrayal**_

In the middle of the flight, Kiara woke up to go to the washroom. When she returned, she was too lazy to push her way into the middle seat. And with Rishaan readily offering to shift seats, the seating arrangement changed. With 20 minutes still remaining for the flight to land, a sleep-starved Kiara took another power nap, this time holding Rishaan's right hand more firmly. Rishaan's other hand, though, nervously moved to touch Diya's. Her heart skipped a beat. Diya pulled her hand away. But a defiant Rishaan held her wrist again, this time firmly and more reassuringly. The changing behavioral dynamics between the three perhaps gave out a foreboding of what was to come in Goa.

When the flight landed at the Dabolim Airport, Rishaan felt uncanny...his excitement seemed replaced by an unknown fear that he found very difficult to decipher.

Two years after his marriage with Kiara, he met her cousin Diya—breathe-taking beauty was the word that came to Rishaan at his first look at her. He just couldn't wait to spend time with her and the opportunity knocked soon as Kiara requested Rishaan to plan a vacation on the occasion of Diya's first visit. Rishaan, although pretending to be reluctant, took a two weeks' holiday from his job at the call-center and brought three tickets for the most romantic state—Goa. He couldn't stop himself form imagining how he and Diya would spend time in the beaches holding hands.

From the Dabolim Airport, they took a white tourist taxi to reach their hotel Vivanta by Taj located at the capital city of Panaji, just 30 kms from the airport. A tired Kiara went to take another short nap as soon as the manager confirmed their rooms. Rishaan took full advantage of the opportunity and sneaked into Diya's room with an excuse of discovering the plans for the stay.

Diya was busy surfing the net and collected a lot of information about the tourist spots in Goa. Lot of historic sites popped up and she note down all of them. Rishaan smiled and promised to visit each of them and then returning to Kiara and sat on the bed beside her.

He never realized how boring his life was with Kiara until he met Diya. There's a dazzling look in her eyes that attracts him, calls him and seduces him. Kiara's eyes are really dull, always carving for sleep.

Rishaan shivered as he felt the cold touch of Kiara's hand on his, on a cold January morning. She was looking at him with a wry smile as if she could see through him; or, perhaps she was just smiling but Rishaan's guilt made him feel so. Still he wasn't able to remove Diya from his brain.

"Wake up," he said, forcing a smile, "Won't you be going for Site-seeing, Kiara?"

"Yup, sure. I will. Who would want to miss even a short moment they can spend with their loving handsome hubby?" Kiara said and hugged him.

Rishaan hugged back and felt as if Kiara mocked him. "Oh! What a disgusting wife, I have," he thought.

Aloud, he said, "Get ready, Kiara. We will have to leave in an hour. I'm ordering the food."

"Yeah sure, darling," Kiara replied and got up to have a brief bath.

"Two Sanna and one Amboli," Rishaan ordered over the phone.

"Hey, what's that?" Kiara asked, confused.

"Sanna is variety of Idli and Amboli is that of Dosa," Rishaan replied with a smile.

"Oh ho! I never knew my hubby knows Konkani too, among all other languages," Kiara laughed.

"I didn't. Diya told."

"Really, when?"

"In the flight. Now, get ready quick, Kiara. The breakfast will be here any moment. I'm calling Diya too here," Rishaan replied, thinking how he fell in love with such a lazy girl.

"As you wish, dear," Kiara said, as she went into the washroom.

With trembling fingers, Rishaan knocked Diya's door. After a full five minutes she finally opened it with a broad but guilty smile on her face.

"Sorry, Jiju. You had to wait. Actually, I was having a bath…," Diya replied, which was obvious from the bathrobe she wore with water dripping down her wet hairs. It seduced Rishaan more as he stared at her, speechless. Again, an unknown fear gripped him, yet he couldn't move his gaze from her. He felt weak in the knees and couldn't make his tongue speak.

"You need something, Jiju?" Diya asked.

No reply.

"Umm… Jiju?" Diya raised her voice a bit and smiled naughtily.

"Huh, yeah. What?" Rishaan asked, suddenly coming back to reality.

"You want something, Jiju?"

"Yes… You…," Rishaan replied as if in a trance.

"Huh, What?" Diya asked, again turning mischievous.

"Umm… I mean… Umm… You… You… You need not to order any food, I have already ordered. Get ready and come to our room, we will together have it," Rishaan replied quickly.

"Okay thanks, Jiju," Diya replied and closed the door. She couldn't help smiling and looked into the mirror admiring her wet body. She knew what all these were heading to, but couldn't resist her burning desire to discover the unknown.

Rishaan stood there for sometime mesmerized at the half-naked beauty he just visualized. Then suddenly the face of Kiara popped up from somewhere in his brain and he ran towards their room.

There he saw Kiara was ready in her boring jeans and top and was sitting on the bed waiting for him.

"So late?" She asked, with a raised eyebrow, as he entered the room.

"Diya opened the door late and said she was bathing," Rishaan replied quickly, wondering how he didn't realize the way such a long time flew away.

"Oh, where's she then?"

"Coming. Just a few touch ups left," Rishaan spoke nervously and gulped down a glass of water lying on the table.

Kiara, surprised at his strange behavior, was about to say something but stopped as the waiter arrived with the food. Rishaan instructed him to bring the same food for dinner every day as he wanted to have light food at night.

Soon Diya arrived too in her short top with a small brown jacket and hot pants. Rishaan couldn't but stare at her bare legs and kept stealing glances. Diya noticed and smiled to herself.

As soon as they were done they went for the Site-seeing.

"There is a special charm in travelling in those brightly painted private buses," Kiara said, pointing to a row of buses.

"You want to travel by bus?" Rishaan said with a disgusting look.

"Yeah, why not, Jiju? Di, that would be awesome, won't it?" Diya said, excited.

"Fine then, let's go," Rishaan replied and went in to talk. After a lot of bargaining, they settled at a reasonable price with a list of places they would be visiting. Kiara and Diya went inside very excited.

The first site they visited was the Bom Jesus Basilica that holds the moral remains of St. Francis Xavier and then they went on to see the Santuary of Saint Joseph Vaz, pillar monastery and the Marian Appariton at the Church of Saint Simon. They had to stop on the way to have lunch at a famous restaurant where they had Goan Special Vegetable Strew called the Khatkhati. They then again resumed their journey to visit the famous forts of Goa—Tiracol, Chapora, Corjeum, Aguada, Reis Mogos, Nanus, etc and then returned to their hotel.

"Wow! What a day it was!" Diya exclaimed, as they went up the stairs to their rooms.

"Yeah and how hell tired I am!" Kiara said, with drowsy eyes.

"Hmm… Go and take rest then, Kiara," Rishaan mocked and thought how Kiara always complains about being tired while her sister is so filled with life.

"That I will, for sure. But, what about you two?" Kiara asked.

"We would surf the internet to find the best coasts to visit here," Rishaan said quickly, and looked at Diya, who had already started to smile naughtily.

"Okay, fine then. Good bye, guys," Kiara said as she entered her room.

Once in the room Diya put her laptop on the bed and laid on her stomach with Rishaan on her side and began searching. Rishaan couldn't resist himself from staring at her buttery smooth waist and white as snow legs.

"Jiju, come. See Google found so many coasts here," Diya called.

"Umm… Yeah… Let's see…," Rishaan rushed quickly towards the bed.

"See Jiju, this Arambol Beach is the most famous one and this Baga Beach offers so many water sports, Jiju. And I really want to go fishing at Benaulim Beach and also shop at Calangute Beach. Jiju, this Cavelossim Beach has the best scenery in the…Jiju, are you listening?"

"Huh, yeah. We would visit all of them, dear," Rishaan replied quickly.

"But Jiju, tomorrow I want to travel by Goa's unique transport—the ferry. You know, it's one of the most romantic mode of transport in Goa," Diya said, with a tinge of naughtiness.

"What's there in being romantic, Diya? Your Di knows nothing of romance…," Rishaan sighed and laid on his stomach beside her.

"So what, Jiju? I'm there, na…," Diya said and looked at him with expectant eyes. Rishaan looked back at her with his love starved eyes.

And then, just as it always happens in any other story—they kissed and helped each other undress and finally ended up having sex. Rishaan could not handle the joy of touching and kissing Diya's soft skin and lips. He then decided that his boring life with Kiara must really end now. Kiara was impossible to deal with. He wants Diya, at any cost.

Next day, as planned they went for the ferry ride from Panaji across the Mandovi River to Betim and visited the Jude at Batim Ganxim and returned by one of the two beautiful bridges build over the river. Diya also wanted to drive in Goa's unique yet popular transport—the Pilot, but backed off when she heard that the driver, called the Pilot here, would carry only one passenger at a time on his yellow motor cycle.

While having their lunch, Diya and Rishaan exchanged glances and smiled, remembering the incident of the previous day. The pleasant smell of Diya's body hovered over Rishaan and he couldn't resist himself from thinking about her. Kiara, completely unaware of everything that was cooking between her husband and her cousin, concentrated on the food on her plate, while Diya and Rishaan waited for their dark pleasant night to arrive.

After lunch, they went on to visit the Fountainhas—a cultural quarter showcasing the life, architecture and culture of Goa. They too visited a few of Goa's famous temples like the Shanta Durga Temple, Mangieshi temple and Mahalasa temple, each of which had some Portugese influence engraved in them. They finally visited the statue of bleeding Jesus on Crucifix at Santa Monica Convent and returned.

Then, the usual routine followed where Kiara went off to sleep and Rishaan and Diya, on the excuse of surfing, had sex.

Next day, they visited Goa state museum and Naval Aviation Museum along with Goa Science Centre. They also enjoyed dance and music like the Fudgi, Mando and Fado at a nearby stadium. Sex at the end of each day become a routine for Diya and Rishaan that helped them get rid of their physical and mental tiredness at the end of the day.

Finally, the most waited day arrived when they would visit the coasts. They booked a tourist taxi and driving through a channel of Cashew trees reached the Arambol Beach. From there, they went to the Baga Beach which derives its name from the Baga River at its north. This was the most happening and the most crowded beach of Goa. The rear view of the river joining the sea here mesmerized all of them. The whole beach is covered by beach umbrella and beach beds where the tourists can relax and enjoy sun-bathing.

Kiara at once laid straight in one of those beds while Diya and Rishaan went on to enjoy the water sports like para-sailing, wind-surfing, wake-boarding, kite-surfing, jet skis riding and many more. When they were done they had a lunch of Vindaloo, Xacuti and Chourico. The common thing in all Goan food was that coconut and coconut oil are widely used in all the items along with chili peppers, species and vinegar. At the end, they had Bebinca, an egg-based multi-layered sweet dish. Once, in the middle of eating her food, Diya looked up at Rishaan and winked. Rishaan smiled and winked back. Kiara was too busy with her food to notice. After lunch, they all went for the Dolphin Watching boat trip.

Then, after relishing feast on cocktails and mock tails, they enjoyed dance at Mackie's Saturday Night Bazaar from six in the evening arranged by the Tito Club. Kiara was too tired to dance as always but allowed Rishaan and Diya to dance together. She was too lazy to even suspect her husband. Rishaan held Diya's hands and they danced with all their mirth. Diya's jolliness attracted Rishaan just like the smell of flowers attracts the bees. He stared at her rosy lips and couldn't wait to kiss them but the thought of Kiara staring at them stopped him from moving any further.

They returned late in the night completely tired. While Kiara slept to get rid of her tiredness, Diya and Rishaan had sex as usual to get rid of theirs.

Next day they went fishing at Benailim Beach. Rishaan bought three bamboo fishing traps from there and all of them sat on the bank fishing.

"Why don't you tell her everything?" Diya hissed, as she waited for the fishes to get trapped.

"Yeah, I will. I will have to…," Rishaan murmured, growing thoughtful.

"Yeah, please do that as soon as possible. She must know about it and…," Diya stopped abruptly as her fishing trap caught a large fish and she transformed her attention towards it.

They caught a lot of sea animals that included crabs, lobsters, shrimps, jellyfish, oysters and catfishes and their lunch on these.

Then they went to the Cavelossim Beach and the scenery of crystalline blue water, white soft sand and greenery there mesmerized them. Rishaan couldn't resist himself from planting a kiss on Diya's check while Kiara was busy admiring the sea. The sudden unexpected kiss made a chill run down her spine, yet Diya loved the way he did it.

Next, they went to Calangute Beach and the shop-alcoholic ladies bought a lot of Gujrati and Rajasthani textiles, a few Kasmiri handicrafts and Tebetian Jewellery from a shop near-by. The terracotta figurines, crochet table clothes and curtain covers they bought along were really very beautiful to look at.

Rishaan loved the way Diya's eyes glittered each time she saw something new and extraordinary in the market. Although he denied a lot other things that Kiara wanted to buy, he couldn't deny anything that Diya wanted. Yet, Kiara didn't seem to mind anything, or perhaps she was far too lazy to even notice that.

Next day, they went to pay a visit to the National Institute of Oceanography at Dona Paula. It was here that Rishaan finally decided to confess everything to Kiara and took her to Dona Paula beach, named after the daughter of the then viceroy who committed suicide after not being allowed to marry the local fisherman she loved.

"Kiara, I want to confess something," Rishaan begun.

"Confess?" Kiara asked, confused and surprised.

"Yes."

"Okay, go on."

"I no longer love you, Kiara. I'm not happy with you. Our marriage has no meaning to me anymore. It lacks the passion. I want to be with Diya. We had already indulged ourselves in physical relationship and now I want to give it a name. I can't live without her, Kiara. I just…"

"But she is already…," Kiara begun.

"Not buts Kiara, please. Don't stop me now. You will get your divorce papers once we return and please do sign them as soon as possible. Diya and I can't wait to be united," Rishaan replied and quickly turning back walked off her.

The confession shocked Kiara so much that she was unable to move. Her legs got fixed in the sands. Unable to handle this insult from the person she had bestowed all her love and trust upon, jumped into the water. The locals who saw her do this at once jumped into the water and brought back her body but couldn't bring her life back again. Her lifeless body laid covered with sand in the area that was once famous for the death of the girl who couldn't get her love.

Back at the hotel, Rishaan related to Diya all that happened at the Beach. He was so afraid when he heard the splash of waters and saw Kiara get downed that he ran back as fast as he could to the taxi and came back to the hotel. He really couldn't wait to see such an end of the lady who was once his wife.

"So, when are we getting married, Diya?" Rishaan asked, after he had narrated the whole incident.

"Married? Have you completely gone crazy Jiju? Why will I marry you?" Diya asked, pretending to be utterly shocked.

"Don't joke Diya. I left Kiara to be with you and now you just can't…"

"No, you are wrong Jiju. You left Di because you weren't happy with your married life."

"Diya…", was all a shocked Rishaan could say.

"What Jiju? Didn't Di ever told you that I'm already engaged with someone and am getting married by the end of this year."

"What? Then why did you ask me to tell Kiara everything about us?"

"I never asked you to tell her anything about us, Jiju. I told you tell her that you are not happy with her and that she should be more romantic in order to please you. It was you who interpreted my words in another way and forced her to commit suicide," Diya replied with a cunning grin.

"Then, what was the use of that we did repeatedly in your bedroom? Why did you seduce me and got indulged in a physical relationship if you can't give it a name?" Rishaan asked. Now it was his time to get the shock of his life.

"Oh, that? Oh, come-on, Jiju. It was just for fun. See, I'm getting married in a sophisticated family where I would never be allowed to even think of any other man other than my hubby once I get married there. So I needed to have some real fun before getting married and entering that prison Jiju. And you provided that to me and trust me, I really loved it," Diya replied and winked.

"But I love you, Diya…" Rishaan still managed to say.

"Really? But I think you said the same to Di before getting married to her. But as soon as you saw me you forgot that and being after me like my own shadow. What if you do the same to me as well? How can I trust you on that Jiju? Anyway, it's too late Jiju and I'm very sleepy. Have a very good night, Jiju. Bye," Diya smiled and closed the door with Rishaan standing in the cold outside, speechless and repenting.


End file.
